The Riddell Collection of Wax Seals:
Seal Life Stories: the remarkable careers of 23 individuals from the Riddell Collection of Wax Seals
6: lady augusta (campbell) clavering (1760-1831)
Lady Augusta (Campbell) Clavering (New York Public Library Digital Collections)
Born on March 31st 1760, to the 5th Duke of Argyll and Elizabeth Gunning , Lady Augusta grew up at Inveraray and Rosneath Castles, before travelling to London, where she was presented at Court before joining society. After rejecting a succession of suitors, including a prince, Augusta eloped with and married Colonel Henry Mordaunt Clavering.
Henry was a notorious gambler and it is said that her father never forgave her. Augusta and Henry had four children but the couple separated soon after. Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus noted in ‘Memoirs of a Highland Lady’ - “Lady Augusta Clavering, once Campbell . . . who ran off from a masquerade with a lover who made her bitterly repent she ever took him for a husband.”
Augusta settled near her family later in life, with a small house in Helensburgh and a house on Queen Street in Edinburgh.